Sermon Notes — November 17, 2024
November 17, 2024
Numbers 22:10-35
What Kind of Prophet?
Dr. Craig Goff
I once heard about an amateur counterfeiter who had a certain knack for making fake money. He printed a big ole stack that looked really authentic. The only problem was he accidently printed them as 21 dollar bills. Yea, little bit of a problem.
He didn’t know what to do. At first he was just going to throw them out, but after close inspection he saw that besides the 21 dollar amount he had done an exceptionally good job. They looked really good.
He thought and thought, “Who could I pass this bills off to?” Then, he realized that the state fair was in progress. He said, “I’ll find somebody gullible enough to take them down at the fair.”
He drove down to the fair into the parking lot. He started to give them to the parking lot attendant, but he thought, “these guys see a lot of money, better not try it.” He thought the same thing at different food booths and vendors, but then he thought, “Maybe I can find some kind of church group fund raiser. Those Christians don’t know anything about money. They are too caught up in Jesus and Share the Feast, Angel Trees and Love on Wheels, and other spiritual matters.”
He looked around and, sure enough, there was this little church selling Craig Goff Gospel CD’s for a fundraiser. He thought,” they really don’t know anything about money.” He went up to the person at the register, pulled out one of his crisp 21 dollar bills, held his breath, and said “I don’t want any music, but could you give me change for this 21 dollar bill?” The person behind the counter said, “Sure, be glad to, would two sixes and a nine be okay?”
In our text today, Balaam had a decision to make. He had to decide if he would be an authentic prophet or a counterfeit prophet.
There is some evidence Balaam is struggling with this decision. He wants to do the right thing and to do what God wants him to do, but he also has this Moabite King who is offering him a lot of treasure to use his spiritual gifts in less than authentic ways. The King of Moab wants Balaam to curse the Israelites
The historical context of this passage takes place late in the days of the wilderness wanderings. The Israelites have been out in the desert about 40 years after being rescued from Egypt and slavery and are finally on the verge of entering the Promised Land
In the verses just preceding the passage we heard read we are told that the Hebrews are camped out on the plains of Moab on the Jordan River, right across from the city of Jericho.
The Moabites are really nervous about the Hebrews being there, but they shouldn’t be because the Moabites and the Hebrews are cousins. The Hebrews didn’t have plans to harm them in any way. But there are so many of the Israelites, the Moabites feel overwhelmed by them. They are afraid they are going to eat them out of house and home. Let’s look at 22:4
“And Moab said to the elders of Midian, ‘this horde will now lick up all that is around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.”
It is clear the Moabites feel a little overwhelmed and see the Hebrews as a threat
So the king tries to commission Balaam to cast a curse on them.
Balaam is not an Israelite or a Moabite. He is actually from Pethor, which is along the banks of the Sajur River, which is a tributary of the Euphrates River in northern Syria. The place where Balaam is from is almost 400 miles from where the Hebrews and the Moabites are. It would be about a journey of about three weeks to get from Pethor to Moab in those days.
While that might sound like TBU information, i.e. True But Useless information, it does tell us Balaam must have been a prophet with a sizable reputation
He was something of a rock star. He was internationally known as someone with some pretty hefty spiritual power. So King Balaak of Moab tries to hire him to curse the Hebrews who he feels is threatening his people. The ability to cast spells on people was a highly marketable commodity in those days.
On the surface it kind of looks like Balaam is having none of it. He refuses the kings offer. But if you look at other conversations in Scripture where people in Biblical times are trying to come to a financial agreement, you get the impression Balaam might only be trying to get Balaak to offer him more money.
Let’s look at when Abraham needed to buy a burial plot for Sarah in Genesis 23 (1-16).
Again, on the surface it just sounds like they are offering to just give the plot to Abraham, but that is not what is going on at all.
Let’s take a look – Genesis 23:1-16
So Balaam is being asked to curse the Hebrews. On the surface it appears that he is refusing to do it, but he does saddle up a donkey and make his way to where the Israelites are camped
However, Balaam’s donkey who may be the true prophet in this story, sees an angel of the Lord blocking their path to the camp of the Hebrews.
The donkey refuses to go forward which causes Balaam’s blood pressure to go through the roof. He begins to strike the donkey. The donkey, being a smart donkey, is more afraid of the angel and refuses to go on, even though Balaam continues to beat him.
Eventually God gives the donkey a little sermon for the prophet. God speaks through the jackass, and no the pun is not lost on me. The donkey speaks and Balaam’s eyes are finally opened and he can see what is really going on.
God allows them to travel on to the camp of the Israelites, but God says, “you are only going to say what I want you to say.”
And that is what Balaam does. It is not 100% clear what Balaam’s initial intentions are but before the story is over he becomes an authentic prophet. He ends up blessing the Israelites instead of cursing them.
We may never be asked to curse an entire nation of people, but we do have to decide the kind of prophets or at least followers of Jesus and church members we will be. There are essentially two kinds – authentic and counterfeit.
We have to decide who we will listen to and whether our faith will be authentic or counterfeit.
When we become a member of the church or present our children to be baptized or confirmed we pledge that we will do our best to be authentic followers of Jesus and faithful church members.
Sometimes it’s good to be reminded of what those promises are:
So, let’s take a look.
When we join the church or our children are baptized or confirmed:
After we renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness and confess Jesus Christ as our Savior
We promise to be a faithful member of the church and to support the church with our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness.
Being an authentic follower of Jesus and faithful church member means we support the church with our presence.
What is that old saying, “80% of success is just showing up.” You might think you don’t need to be here, but maybe someone needs you to be here. Presence is important.
Being an authentic disciple means we pray for the church. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism had a high view of the importance of prayer. Here is what he once said:
“God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” According to Wesley, prayer is not an option for humankind but a necessity. If we don’t pray, heaven cannot interfere in earth’s affairs. Even if we don’t share Wesley’s high, high, view of prayer. We know it is important and it is part of the vows we affirm when we join the church. We support the church with our prayers.
We support the church with our talents and our financial gifts. Next week we begin collecting our estimate of giving cards which really helps us plan for a new year of ministry. Thank you for completing those and thank you for your financial support of the church.
Finally, we promise to support the church with our service. Service looks different for every one of us. Our trustees can do things, I could never dream of doing. We don’t all play music, we don’t all have engineering degrees, we don’t all have the disposition that makes for a good Stephen Minister but we can all serve.
We can all seek to be authentic as we seek worship and serve God, as we look to God for our strength and for what God would have us say.
If God could speak through Balaam’s donkey just imagine what God could do through you.